“Are you ready?”
She slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder and chest. “Yes.”
Gage closed the self-locking door, making certain it was firmly shut, then reached for Tonya’s hand. “I reserved a table for us at Jazzes. I’m sitting in for the keyboard player for one number, so we’ll have time to sit together and enjoy the music.”
“Do you play there every weekend?” she asked as they followed the path to the front of the main house.
“Just say I play there most weekends. Fridays are amateur nights, but it’s always the house band on Saturday. Most of the guys in the band grew up together, so whenever I need a break, there’s always someone willing to step in.”
“Do you always play the trumpet?” she asked as he opened the passenger-side door and helped her up. She stared down at him staring up at her, trying to see his expression in the diffused light coming from stanchions along the path leading up to the main house.
Gage closed the door and came around to sit beside her. “Yes. It’s my favorite instrument. Even when I began taking piano lessons I aspired to be like Louis Armstrong, so when I went to middle school and took band, I selected the trumpet.” He pushed the start-engine button, and the distinctive voice of Maxwell filled the SUV. “I can change the music if you want.”
“No, please leave it. I really like his music.”
“What other male vocalists do you like?”
“I’m partial to Anthony Hamilton.”
Gage nodded, smiling. “He’s a throwback to old school R and B. When it comes to R and B, I happen to like Jaheim. I never get tired of hearing his ‘Remarkable.’ ”
“I don’t recall if I’ve ever heard that song.”
“I’ll play it for you whenever you come over again.”
Shifting into gear, Gage circled the driveway and drove along the winding path. Within seconds of the rear wheels driving over the metal plate, the gates closed automatically. He reached for Tonya’s left hand, holding it in his loose grasp as he steered with his free hand.
“I can’t say it enough, but I love cooking with you.”
“It’s the same with me.”
He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I find that I can’t keep my hands off you, and I must confess I can’t remember if a woman has ever affected me like this.”
“What about your ex-wife?”
Gage sucked in his breath, held it for several seconds before slowly exhaling. He had mentioned to Tonya that he wanted to have an honest relationship with her, and that meant she had a right to know about his past. “I had a very unconventional relationship with my ex. She used to come into a club where I used to play, and one night in a moment of madness I went home with her and we had unprotected sex. We continued to sleep together, but always using protection, but I guess the first time proved to be the wrong time, because she came to me a couple of months later to tell me she was pregnant. Three weeks later we tied the knot and moved into an apartment not far from Bourbon Street.”
He revealed how within weeks of their living together Winnie complained bitterly because she wanted to live in a big house with someone to come in and clean for her. Chez Toussaints was open full-time, and he left for work at dawn and returned home twelve hours later to find his wife in bed watching television while the sink was filled with unwashed dishes and dirty clothes were stacked in piles around the house.
“And because she claimed she didn’t feel well, I decided not to press her about coming home to a dirty house. After Wesley was born, it didn’t get any better. There were times when she left the boy with her parents and disappeared for hours. And when she returned home she pretended nothing had happened. One day I found a stack of money she’d hidden in a drawer, and when I confronted her about it, she said she had gotten a part-time job to save enough money so we could buy the house she wanted. I later found out she was sleeping with a man over in another parish. When I confronted her she promised to stop, and she did, but only for a while.”
“How long were you married?” Tonya asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Six years. I only stayed because of my son.”
Gage knew he couldn’t tell Tonya that the final straw was when Winnie revealed Wesley wasn’t his son, that she didn’t know who had fathered the child because she had been sleeping with several men at the same time. They mutually agreed not to tell Wesley that Gage wasn’t his biological father, and even after the divorce he continued to provide monetary support for the child. However, she broke her promise when Wesley turned fifteen and she told him Gage wasn’t his father, that she was pregnant when she first slept with him, and she didn’t know who his father was. The disclosure resulted in a downward spiral for the adolescent.
“Wesley was fifteen when his mother moved to Baton Rouge, and that’s when his life changed dramatically. He and his mother were drinking and drugging together. I tried to get custody of him, but my ex fought me, because she knew she would lose the child support. The judge denied my request when she agreed they would both go into treatment. Even after a number of stays in a residential treatment program, Wesley can’t stay clean. Last year I gave him an ultimatum to come work at the restaurant, and if he manages to stay clean, I’ll buy him a car and help him get an apartment.”
“How old is he now?”
“Twenty. He managed to finish high school and get into a local junior college, but he’s missed so many classes they keep flunking him. Then the police contacted me instead of his mother because he’d been arrested for driving under the influence. The judge revoked his license for six months, and I took back the car I’d given him. If he’s able to stay out of trouble I’ll give him back the car, but that can’t happen until April.”
* * *
Tonya digested what Gage had just revealed and knew what he was going through. Her brother had started out selling drugs, and in the end they were responsible for taking his life. “I’ve worn out my knees praying my daughter will stay away from drugs or anything that will derail her education. But that’s not to say she won’t meet a knucklehead who could sabotage everything she’s worked so hard to achieve.”
Gage gave her a quick glance. “Is that what happened to you?” he asked perceptively.
